By IANS,
New Delhi : The swearing-in of the second lot of ministers in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s team has been postponed and is unlikely to take place before Thursday, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Tuesday.
“There are a lot of ministers who will take oath in the next round and there is still some fine-tuning to be done. It could happen in the next couple of days,” said a PMO official.
Wednesday is unlikely, the official said, as it is Jawaharlal Nehru’s death anniversary.
Congress party insiders added that crisis managers were burdened with aspirations of other allies after the DMK succeeded in wheedling seven ministerial berths for itself.
Following the DMK’s tough stance, allies like the Trinamool Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have also mounted pressure.
The Congress, it is learnt, is also undecided about the portfolios to be allocated to its own MPs.
Till late Monday, Manmohan Singh was closeted with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her core team, including the party’s political secretary Ahmad Patel, short-listing the list of probables for the new ministry.
Manmohan Singh and 19 other cabinet ministers were sworn in on May 23.